Chef Sandy Daza to host new food show

ABS-CBN News

MANILA -- Chef and restaurateur Sandy Daza is back with a new cooking show that is set to premiere next month on the local cable channel, Lifestyle Network.

But unlike his previous shows, Daza won't be cooking on "FoodPrints," which aims to also serve as a venue to promote Philippine tourism.

"The idea of this is to introduce our food, unknown dishes, to us, to balikbayans and eventually to foreigners," Daza said during the launch of the show on Tuesday.

"There's this word going around that Philippine cuisine is not as popular as Thai as Vietnamese. My own analysis is this: our cuisine is not as popular as other dishes because of the Spanish influence in our cuisine. You take dishes -- kaldereta or menudo or something -- all of these dishes have western ingredients like tomato sauce, cream and cheese. So to them, the foreigners, that's not so exotic. You give them kaldereta, to them that's just stew," he noted.

"Now, my belief is that if we can give them dishes with ingredients that they are not familiar with, to them that becomes exotic, then it becomes interesting," he said.

According to Daza, "FoodPrints" is about the rediscovery of Pinoy food and the people who cook them, as well as a celebration of Filipino culture.

"My idea with the crew is to go to the provinces. I always believe the ones who know what's good in their provinces are the politicians because politicians entertain a lot and get gifts from their constituents. So what I've done is we went to Department of Tourism. They talked to the politicians, they helped us and the research team, they recommend to us what is good," he explained.

Daza cited the show's first episode which was shot in Ilocos that is popular for its bagnet and the Ilocos empanada.

"We want to point to you where to go to get the best bagnet. Out of the many empanadas, we will point to you what to us is the best because we want the televiewers to leave saying, 'Ang sarap ng pagkain sa Ilocos Norte.' If you are from Panay or Bacolod and you go to what we recommend, when you leave, we want you to leave saying, 'The food there is so good.' We want the foreigners, our balikbayans, to have the same experience," he said.

In the show, locals from different parts of the country will cook their own specialties, revealing the uniqueness of Filipino food culture.

Aside from tasting various dishes, Daza, who owns the popular Wooden Spoon restaurant in Quezon City and son of legendary Pinoy chef Nora Daza, will also share his experience in meeting people who will show him the way to the province's greatest food and authentic regional fare.

"FoodPrints" will premiere on September 21 at 8:30 p.m. on the Lifestyle Network, with replays on Sundays at 3 p.m., Tuesdays at 8 a.m., and Fridays at 2 p.m.